Cutting Guide: Lose Fat & Maintain Muscle

Have you just completed a bulking phase? Did you find you gained muscle mass, but also a bit of fat? Are you hoping to shed that fat? If so, we have a cutting guide that will help.

If you want your best abs muscles to stand out, your biceps to look defined and the rest of your body to have that chiseled appearance, then you need to put some focus into cutting every so often. While cutting it not always needed and is not even required for some people, it is vital for those who want to get rid of any excess face fat, lower belly fat & fat in general that they feel is tarnishing their appearance.

When and why do you need to be in a cutting phase?

When your aim is to bulk, you end up consuming lots of calories that are going to aid in building your muscle mass. Not all of the weight you put on will be muscle.

That’s why you should not be cutting if your form already looks defined. Use this cutting guide with your best judgment.

At its most basic level, you will be consuming fewer calories while cutting to drop the excess weight and truly bring out the definition of your muscles. Here’s a cutting guide to teach you the proper techniques so you can truly bring out your best physical form.

Caloric Intake For Your Cutting Guide

During your cutting time, your caloric intake should be changed. Your workout routines should change as well. You can’t keep up your heavy-duty workouts if you are not consuming as many calories because you’re going to be completely exhausted at all times.

Also, the length of your cut will depend on how many pounds you are trying to get rid of. If you only want to shed a few pounds, then you will not need to cut for very long. Our cutting guide will tell you what you need to know about cutting the right way and the techniques required for what you desire.

How To Cut Fat & What It Means

When you are looking to cut some of that extra weight off, you want to make sure that you modify your diet and muscle building workouts the right way, but not too drastically. Modifying the exercises you are used to doing by too much will result in a loss of muscle mass. Needless to say, this is the exact opposite of what you are looking to achieve.

Weigh yourself after one week of doing this to see if you shed any weight. Your goal should be to lose about one pound per week after your calorie reduction, so any more than this is cutting too many calories. Any less than this amount is not cutting enough. Discovering the right amount of calories to reduce your diet by will be a trial and error process if it is your first time.

Your goal during the cutting portion of your exercising should be to burn more calories than you are consuming. Also, it needs to be done strategically over time. If you want to cut 10 pounds, budget about 6 to 12 weeks to achieve this goal.

Rushing into a cut will result in a loss of muscle mass that is going to have you right back to the bulking phase again.

Eating And Exercising During Cut Time

Before we go any further, it is important to mention that cutting is not supposed to be for a person who is brand new to exercising. Cutting is for those who have already hit the gym hard, have developed muscle, but want to trim off the fat to expose the muscle underneath. If you do not have any muscle foundation, then cutting is going to be pointless because you will simply be losing weight and you can do that with using simple diet plans.

When cutting, there is no exact diet that you should be following to achieve your goals. For the most part, you should continue eating what you are used to while bulking, just reducing your portions a bit.

Slightly reducing your portions allows you to lower the calories you are taking in while still providing your body with what it needs to maintain those big, bulky muscles.

As we mentioned earlier, finding the right amount of calories to reduce is going to be something that you have to find on your own. Start slow. From there, find your perfect energy balance so you know what you need to do in the future if you require another cut down the line.

As for your working out, this will need to change quite a bit. You should reduce the amount of cardio you normally do so you do not lose any muscle mass. While cardio exercises are always a good part of any workout routine, anyone who has experience in the gym knows that too much cardio can be bad for muscle mass. If you are used to running two miles on two different days of the week, reduce the distance to just one mile, maybe even less.

The main differences during your workout routines will be your length of workout and the amount of lifting you do. Because your calorie intake is going to be lower than normal, the amount of working out you will be able to do is going to be less than average.

If you are used to doing 40 reps with a 20-pound dumbbell, then change that to 30 reps with a 15-pound dumbbell. This ensures that your muscles maintain their shape and form without losing any mass. Another vital aspect of cutting is to boost the amount of isolation exercises you are used to doing.

Isolation exercises allow you to focus on one particular muscle so you can really define it during your cut. If you are concerned about your abs showing more than they were in the past, then you could spend some time concentrating on this area as opposed to doing combo workouts. A regular bulking routine should be about 80% compound exercises, but when you are in a cutting phase it should be about 60%.

Nutritional Supplements To Consider During Your Cut

Another vital aspect of cutting is to ensure that you are providing your body with what it needs on a daily basis. One of the outcomes of eating less food could be a lack of vitamins. This is not something you want to put your body through. The goal of eating less is to consume fewer calories, not to reduce the amount of nutrition your body is used to getting.

First and foremost, it would be a good idea to get yourself a quality multivitamin that you can start taking once per day. If you are already used to taking a multivitamin every day, then think about boosting your dosage. Talk to your doctor to be sure this is right for you. While you want to lose a few extra pounds during your cut, you definitely do not want to negatively impact your health in any way, shape or form.

In addition to increasing (or starting to take) your multivitamin, you may want to consider adding whey protein shakes to help you get through the day. Chances are you may already be drinking them. If so, then you know how good they can be. That should make things easier. Replacing one of your daily meals with a whey protein shake can help you reduce the amount of fat you are consuming while still reaching your daily calorie intake goal.

You may also want to start taking some branch-chained amino acids or other known as bcaa powder. Your local health store will know what you are talking about when you ask for these. They are great for workout recovery and boosting your energy levels. They will aid in your cutting time quite nicely. There are also other things you can add to your supplement regimen that will help your cutting process along, such as glutamine and fish oils.

Although obvious, we still feel it is important to mention that you should stop taking any weight gainer during this time as well. A weight gainer is going to aid your bulking quite a bit, but it should be cut out of your daily intake when you are trying to cut. If you have been consuming a lot of it and are worried about the repercussions of stopping outright, then reduce the amount you are taking on a daily basis.

You can probably cut it back by half of your normal amount and you will still be fine.

Things To Know About Cutting Guide

If you are reading this article and wondering what the difference between cutting and losing weight is, the answer is nothing.

Cutting is the same thing as losing weight. There is nothing special to it. This word is simply used by those who immerse themselves in the fitness world and want a special term for the weight they are losing and the process they are going through after they have bulked up for some time.

Even someone who is overweight could implement cutting into their daily life, maybe without the workout routines, and still lose the weight they are looking to get rid of. Watching your daily calorie intake is a great way to drop extra pounds, no matter who you are.

But, if you are looking to cut, then you need to be sure that your workout routines are modified appropriately.

You may feel like you are not accomplishing what you want to in the gym because you’re doing fewer reps than normal and lifting lighter weights, but you definitely are. Doing nothing is not recommended because your muscles will not end up with that chiseled look that most men want.

Some people also think they can lose two to four pounds during their cut and still achieve the same results. While they will definitely be losing weight, they are going to be losing muscle mass as well. The target of one pound per week is spot on for someone who wants to burn fat cells and retain muscle mass.

Cutting should be a slow process so it gets done right and you do not risk your physique in the process.

Also, you need to keep in mind that this cutting guide is designed for the beginner cutter, but not for a stranger to the gym. After your first go at cutting, you will know exactly what you need to do the next time around to give your muscles that chiseled, defined look.

Conclusion

There is a fine line between cutting the right way and losing muscle mass. This is why it’s highly recommended that you start with a somewhat small calorie reduction before you try reducing by 500 or more calories.

If your body can shed one pound per week when you reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories, then you need to stick with that. Reducing your calorie intake further will result in your muscles losing size along with your fatty tissue. But, if you take it slow, you can easily achieve a successful cut on your first attempt.

If you have just finished bulking for a few weeks and want to really see the results from your efforts, then try a light cut of five pounds over a period of four to six weeks. We have confidence that you will appreciate the benefits that a few weeks of proper cutting will provide you with.

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Hi, I’m Terry Asher – the person behind GymJunkies. I started my fitness journey back when I was in college. People used to tease me because I was small in size but gym changed my life. I later helped my best friend with his fitness goals. This made me realise that I can help everyone with their fitness goals and hence I started GymJunkies. You can read more about me here.